For myself, a large part of living life Lovingly is to honour those who came before us. In particular, those who gave their lives in service of their nation. One can argue much about the rights and wrongs of armed conflict, but nothing can detract from the fact that there are many centuries of lives lost to battles both small and large. Wherever one is in the world, regardless of one's nationality, those who defended our countries deserve our recognition and memory. Of course, we can hold up examples of despicable behaviours on 'the other side' (pick a side, any side), but the edges are very blurry in war (and not-war) and even 'our own side', the one we identify with, will not have been without its misdemeanours and what would be considered criminal in 'civvy street'... and sometimes even in war.
Yes, there have been and continue to be many wrongs in the name of protection of life and liberty, no matter where in the world that is. However, there are equally acts of great worth and heroism, and it is these which must be honoured. We must remember the negative in order to appreciate the positive.
The theory is that we learn history in order to not repeat it. The definition of stupidity is to keep repeating the same foolish acts expecting better results. What does this say about Mankind as a species?
These and many other thoughts came flooding forward as I began preparing these posts about my June trip to Suffolk and here we are on the fourth post about June 19th in particular, when Aitch and I visited the most amazing Flixton Air Museum. As we drove away, Aitch had her geocache satellite on and, armed with clues from around the museum, we were headed - as it turned out - to the
actual airfield itself. Or what remains of it.
The cache being sought took us to a point which looked across a flat-as-a-pancake wheatfield, on which could be seen some broken down buildings that were likely survivors from that era. On researching more about this place, I discovered that we were parked at the South end of the one remaining intact
piece of runway on which are to be found buildings which can be explored...
That 'top lane' now forms part of the actual road driven. The runway is the bit pointing up from my red marker. I estimate the ruins we could see sit about two thirds down that left 'lane'.
The cache located and marked, there was time to fit in another at the more traditional scene of church surrounds before going on to our
tea party. It was
St Peter South Elmham.
It was a most peaceful and attractive church, wherein I took the opportunity to offer up prayers of thanks and remembrance for the those whose stories we'd had the privilege to witness during our visit to Flixton. Yes, we have dedicated days in each of our countries for such remembrance, filled with pomp and circumstance which is all right and proper. However, continued remembrance is a gentler honour, more connecting, Loving. We must never forget.
The theory is that we learn history in order to not repeat it. The definition of stupidity is to keep repeating the same foolish acts expecting better results. What does this say about Mankind as a species?
The cache being sought took us to a point which looked across a flat-as-a-pancake wheatfield, on which could be seen some broken down buildings that were likely survivors from that era. On researching more about this place, I discovered that we were parked at the South end of the one remaining intact piece of runway on which are to be found buildings which can be explored...
